The devil has much joy of a soul that works indiscreetly, without being held in check by him who ought to rule it: for the higher such a one strives to mount, the greater its fall. - Saint Ignatius of LoyolaA Year with the Saints: 15 June

Saint Germaine Cousin

Also known as

• Germaine of Pibrac
• Germana...

Profile

Daughter of Laurent Cousin, a farm worker, and Marie Laroche. Her mother died while Germaine was an infant. A sickly child, Germaine suffered from scrofula, and her right hand was deformed. Ignored by her father and abused by her step-family, she was often forced to sleep in the stable or in a cupboard under the stairs, was fed on scraps, beaten or scalded with hot water for misdeeds, real or imagined.

At age nine Germaine was put to work as a shepherdess, where she spent much time praying, sometimes using a rosary she made from a knotted string. She refused to miss Mass, and if she heard the bell announcing services, she set her crook and her distaff in the ground, declared her flock to be under the care of her guardian angel, and went to church; her sheep were unharmed during her absences. It is reported that once she crossed the raging Courbet River by walking over the waters so she could get to church.

Germaine was so poor it is hard to imagine she would be able to help others, but she was always ready to try, especially children whom she gathered in the fields to teach a simple catechism and share the little food she had. The locals laughed at her religious devotion, and called her 'the little bigot'.

Once in winter, her stepmother, Hortense, accused her of stealing bread by hiding it in her apron, and threatened to beat her with a stick. Germaine opened her apron, and summer flowers tumbled out. Her parents and neighbors were awed by the obvious miracle, and began to treat her as a holy person. Her parents invited her to rejoin the household, but Germaine chose to live as she had.

In 1601 she was found dead on her straw pallet under the stairs, and she was buried in the Church of Pibrac opposite the pulpit. When accidentally exhumed in 1644 during a renovation, her body was found incorrupt. In 1793 the casket was desecrated by an anti-Catholic tinsmith named Toulza, who with three accomplices took out the remains and buried them in the sacristy, throwing quick-lime and water on them. After the French Revolution, her body was found to be still intact save where the quick-lime had done its work.

Documents attest to more than 400 miracles or extraordinary graces received through the intervention of Saint Germain. They include cures of every kind (of blindness, both congenital and resulting from disease, of hip and of spinal disease), and the multiplication of food for the distressed community of the Good Shepherd at Bourges, France in 1845.

Born

1579 at Pibrac, France

Died

• 1601 in her parents' home in Pibrac, France, apparently of natural causes
• relics interred in the church at Pibrac

Representation

• girl with a distaff (it's used in spinning thread)
• girl with a sheep
• girl with a shepherd's crook
• girl with a watchdog
• girl with flowers in her apron
• peasant girl dying alone in poverty
• peasant girl tending sheep
• peasant girl with flowers falling around her in winter

Readings

Saint Vitus

Also known as

Guy, Veit, Vith, Vito

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Legend says that Vitus was the son of a pagan Sicilian senator named Hylas. The boy was converted to Christianity at age twelve by his tutor, Saint Modestus, and his nurse Saint Crescentia. His father showed his objection to the conversion by having all three arrested and scourged.

Freed from prison by angels, they fled to Lucania, then Rome. There Vitus freed the son of Emperor Diocletian from an evil spirit. When Vitus would not sacrifice to the pagan gods in celebration, his cure was attributed to sorcery, and he and his household were arrested again. Tortured, and condemned to death, they were thrown to the lions; the lions would not touch them, so they were thrown into boiling oil. At the moment of their deaths, a immense storm destroyed several pagan temples in the region, which led to the tradition of protection against stormy weather. One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

For obscure reasons, some 16th century Germans believed they could obtain a year's good health by dancing before a statue of Saint Vitus on his feast day. This dancing developed almost into a mania, and was confused with chorea, the nervous condition later known as Saint Vitus' Dance, the saint being invoked against it. His connection with such "dancing" led to his patronage of dancers, and later to entertainers in general and in particular.

When Vitus was thrown into the oil, a rooster was thrown into the oil with him, sacrificed as part of the ritual against sorcery. A rooster became a symbol for Vitus, and its connection with early rising led to Vitus's patronage and protection against oversleeping.

Saint Bernard of Menthon

Also known as

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Born to the French nobility. Priest. Archdeacon of Aosta in 996. Evangelized the people of the Alps for over 40 years. Vicar-general of Alpine diocese. He started a patrol that cleared robbers from the mountains, and he established hospices for travellers and pilgrims to Rome, Italy; he established a community of Augustinian Hospitallers to staff them, and they continue their good work today. The large dogs, trained to search for lost victims in the mountains, are named for him.

Representation

Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock

Also known as

• Albertina Serva de Deus
• Albertina, Servant of God

Profile

Lay person in the diocese of Tubarão, Brazil. Raised in a pious family who insured that Albertina had a strong foundation in the faith. Baptized on 25 May 1919, Confirmed on 9 March 1925, and made her First Communion on 16 August 1928. At age 12 she was attacked by one of her father's employees, who tried to rape her. She fought back; when he realized he would fail and she would identify him, the attacker killed Albertina; she is considered a martyr in the defense of chastity.

Born

11 April 1919 in São Luís, Imaruí, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Died

stabbed in the heart with a pen knife during a rape attempt on 15 June 1931 in São Luís, Imaruí, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Beatified

Saint Hilarion of Espalion

Also known as

• Hilarian of Lévinhac
• Hilarian of Perse
• Ylariano, Hylariano

Profile

Born to the Gallic nobility, he was known as a pious child. Priest in Lévinhac, France. He would often pass through an area of Muslim occupation, cross the River Lot, and celebrate Mass in the town of Perse. Martyr.

Born

c.700 in L•vinhac, France

Died

• beheaded c.793 in Perse, diocese of Rodez, France
• legend says that the body got up, washed the blood off the severated head, and then took it to his mother; he had jokingly promised he would do so every time she nagged him of the danger of passing through Muslim territory to being the Sacraments to the people of Perse
• buried in Lévinhac, France
• relics enshrined in Perse where they are a stop on the route for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela

Canonized

Saint Edburgh of Winchester

Also known as

Eadburh, Edburga

Profile

Daughter of King Edward the Elder and Edgiva of Kent; grand-daughter of King Alfred the Great. As a child she was placed in the convent of Nunnaminster, Winchester, England, which King Alfred's widow had founded. She lived her whole life there, a holy nun and abbess.

Died

• 15 June 960 of natural causes
• interred at the Nunnaminster convent, Winchester, England
• some relics translated to Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire, England, which became famous for its miracles

Canonized

Saint Landelin of Crespin

Also known as

Landelinus, Lando, Landolin, Landolinus

Profile

Born to the nobility, Landelinus lived for a time as a highway bandit, but repented and became a Benedictine monk. Priest. Founded monasteries in France and Belgium including Lobbes, Beligum in 654; Aulne Abbey, Belgium in 656; Wallers, France in 657; Crespin, France in 670. Worked with Saint Ursmar. Spiritual director of Saint Hadelin of Lobbes and Saint Domitian of Lobbes.

Born

c.625 near Bapaume, France

Died

686 of natural causes

Video

Saint Eigil of Fulda

Also known as

Aegil, Aegilius, Aeigil, Aeigilus, Aigil, Egil, Eygil, Fiegil, Figil

Profile

Born to the Bavarian nobility; nephew of Saint Sturmi of Fulda. Educated in Fulda, Germany in the monastery of his uncle Sturmi. Eigil became a Benedictine monk in Fulda. Priest. Teacher at the monastery school. Abbot of the monastery in 817, a house that was in decline at that point. He restored the community, built churches, founded another house, and trained his successor, Saint Rabanus Maurus.

Died

Canonized

Saint Achaicus of Corinth

Also known as

Akaikos, Akaikus

Profile

First-century Christian mentioned by the Saint Paul the Apostle in 1st Corinthians as taking correspondence back and forth between Paul and the Corinthians. Orthodox tradition makes him one of the 70 Disciples.

Readings

I rejoice in the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, because they made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. So give recognition to such people. - 1st Corinthians 16:17-18

Saint Abraham of Cyriacus

Profile

While seeking to learn from hermits, Abraham was captured by bandits in Egypt, he was imprisoned and enslaved by them for five years before he could escape. Making his way to Europe, he lived as a hermit near Clermont, Gaul (modern France). Priest. Abbot of Saint Cyriacus abbey.

Born

on the banks of the River Euphrates in Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq)

Died

c.480 in Arvernia, Aquitaine (in modern France) of natural causes

Patronage

Saint Pierre de Cervis

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Mercedarian. Commander of the convent of Santa Maria in Narbonne, France. Travelled to Moorish occupied Granada to ransom Christians imprisoned and enslaved by Moors, and to preach Christianity. He was immediately arrested, stripped of the money brought to ransom prisoners, beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and left to die. Martyr.

Born

Died

Patronage

Saint Fortunatus of Corinth

Profile

First-century Christian mentioned by the Saint Paul the Apostle in 1st Corinthians as taking correspondence back and forth between Paul and the Corinthians. Orthodox tradition makes him one of the 70 Disciples.

Readings

I rejoice in the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, because they made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. So give recognition to such people. - 1st Corinthians 16:17-18

Born

Died

Beatified

Amos the Prophet

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Eighth-century BC shepherd at Koa near Bethlehem. Of himself he said, "I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet; but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs." One of the Old Testament Minor Prophets, the book of Amos is one long denunciation of evildoers.

Died

Saint Vaughe of Ireland

Also known as

Beoc, Vauge, Vorech

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Priest in the diocese of Armagh, Ireland. When he heard rumours that he was going to be chosen bishop of Armagh, Vaughe retired to live as a hermit in Penmarch, Cornwall, England. From his hermitage he would venture out to preach and evangelize the area residents.

Died

Saint Orsisius

Also known as

Orsiesius

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Desert hermit. Writer. Spiritual student of Saint Pachomius in the desert in Egypt. Helped Pachomius develop the rules for the early desert monks. Head of the community of Tabenna. Saint Jerome translated some of his writings.